You prove my point to an extent. Going back in time, games like Tecmo Bowl all followed by the golden rules of sports games. 1) It's fun. 2) There are no big glitches.
Things like graphics, realism, features, etc all come down the road, but those two must come first, IMO, because you need to build on a solid foundation. Today's games blow Tecmo Bowl out of the water in terms of graphics, features, options, etc but they have way more glitches and are not as fun & entertaining. I mean, how else can a game like MLB Power Pros survive today? Limited glitches (which almost always leads to great gameplay) and it's a ton of fun.
I really can't think of a single sports game on the nex-gen consoles that doesn't have a ton of glitches. CH2K8 wasn't bad and that's probably why many people view it as the best nex-gen sports game.
That being said, it comes with the territory since games have so much more these days and are more complicated. More features, more chances something will go wrong or contain a bug.
But again, I will stand by the idea that different people like different things in a sports game. If graphics, options and features galore are what makes you happy then you enjoy what nex-gen sports games have to offer.